in the face of mounting loses and no success General Zayonchkovsky ordered his troops to halt their attacks and dig in. Thus this second part of General Averescu's plan also failed at a heavy price – the Romanian 19th Division alone had lost 45 officers and 3,150 soldiers. The casualties of the Central Powers exceeded 7,348 more than half of those were in the Ottoman 25th Division and the 74th Regiment. The deteriorating situation in Transylvania once again forced the Romanian command to alter its plans and shift troops from south to north. This and the arriving reinforcements allowed Field Marshal Mackensen to prepare a second assault on the Rasova – Cobadin line. He divided his forces in Western Group (1st Sofia Division, VI Corps and 4th Preslav Division) and Eastern Group (1st Cavalry Division, Bode Brigade, 217th German Division and the Mixed Bulgarian Division) placing Generals Toshev and Kantardzhiev as their respective commanders. Unlike the previous battles, the field marshal arrived on the battlefield to take personal command of both groups. The Second Battle of Cobadin opened on 19 October with the largest artillery barrage yet seen in the Dobrudja Campaign. The Eastern Group was to execute the main attack in the direction of Topraisar and the Western Group engaging in diversionary actions. General Kantardzhiev's men however met with very strong resistance and were not able to advance decisively for several days at the same time however had greater success and received permission from the field marshal to undertake a general attack in his sector on 20 October. The advance was very successful with the 4th Preslav Division capturing 24 officers and 2,800 soldiers from the Russian 61st Division. The entire center and right of the Russo-Romanian Army was retreating towards Cernavodă and Medgidia while the defensive line between the Danube and Cobadin had fallen in the hands of the Bulgarians and the Ottomans. The Eastern Group now also achieved greater results and forced the Romanians to retreat. On 22 October Bulgarian Cavalry Division entered the strategic port of Constanța and the 4th Preslav Division met, defeated fresh reinforcements from the new IV Russian corps around Medgidia and took the town. Only the Romanian 2nd and 5th divisions, that were reduced to 3,500 and 4,000 combatants, were still holding out at Cernavodă but they too were forced to evacuate that fortress and damage the King Carol I Bridge on